1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a medical system for monitoring a measured value of a patient characterizing blood clotting of the patient and/or for setting a medication that influences the blood clotting for a patient in a home environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The frequency of cardiovascular conditions in the population is steadily increasing. When suffering from such conditions, for example cardiac infarctions, patients often must live with bypasses, artificial heart valves or artificial blood vessels. Accompanying this is the constant risk of recurrent thromboses, embolisms or disturbances of the heart rhythm, for example, for which patients usually must be treated life-long with medications that influence blood clotting, known as anticoagulants, such as Marcumar, Falithrom or Warfarin. This therapy is highly effective in and of itself but some physicians are wary about prescribing such medications because the medication level is relatively difficult to set. The effect of the medications is decisively dependent on the nutritional habits of the patient as well as on the taking of further medications. Whereas an over-dosage creates the risk of life-threatening hemorrhages, for example renal hemorrhage or massive cerebral hemorrhage, thromboses, infarctions or strokes cannot be precluded in the case of an under-dosing.
The monitoring of a measured value of a patient characterizing blood clotting as well as the setting of a medication that influences blood clotting for a patient in an extra-clinical environment heretofore has been only inadequately addressed. There are known coagulation measuring instruments with which the patient can measure coagulation values at home, these values then being reported to the attending physician, for example on paper or as a telefax. However, close cooperation with a physician is required for an adequate treatment, particularly for monitoring the activity of the patient, during a readjustment or change of medications, the administration of additional medications or for acute emergency situations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a medical system of the type initially described wherein extra-clinical monitoring of a value of a patient characteristic for coagulation and/or an extra-clinical setting of a medication influencing coagulation for a patient can ensue a degree of medical care that is necessary for the good health of a patient.
According to the invention, this object is achieved in a medical system for monitoring a measured value of a patient characterizing blood clotting and/or for setting a medication that influences blood clotting for a patient in a home environment having a device for acquiring measured values of the patient relating to blood clotting, a device for the transmission of the measured values to a system central, having a device for interrogating the measured values and a reception device at a monitoring person. The system central has a memory for the measured values, an analysis device for the measured values for comparing the measured values to stored rated values, an alarm generator for generating an alarm signal and a routing device for forwarding the alarm signal to a person to be alerted in a process chain. With this system, the monitoring of measured values relating to the blood clotting of a patient can be segregated out of the clinical area or from a physician""s practice and relocated into the living environment of the patient. In particular, the system monitors three quantities: the patient compliance, the measured values of the patient relating to the coagulation and the physician compliance. For a comprehensive medical care of the patient, alarms thus can be triggered if the patient does not generate and communicate measured values or does so too often, when the measured values lie in a health-jeopardizing range, so that an emergency situation is impending or has already occurred, and if the alerted location does not react adequately.
Immediate measures required in the event of sickness can be initiated without delay in an embodiment wherein the alarm generator is fashioned such that it generates an alarm signal given upward or downward transgression, particularly given a significant upward or downward transgression, of stored reference value limits by the measured values. The alarm signal is routed to a reception device or a person in a treatment chain or a person in an emergency chain.
In a version of the invention, the alarm generator can generate an alarm signal if measured values fail to arrive, this alarm signal being routed to a reception device of the patient, and/or it can generate an alarm signal given lack of a reaction of a person in the treatment chain to specifically identified measured values that have been routed to a reception device of the emergency chain.
It is advantageous for the routing device to route the alarm signal to a predetermined, selectable reception device of the process chain or to route the alarm signal automatically to a reception device of the process chain defined by the routing device, taking availability into consideration.
A fast and effective notification in case of emergency can be achieved in an embodiment wherein the routing device is a learning expert system that effects the alerting of the process chain, for example notification of the family physician, calling the emergency physician, organizing the transport service and/or preparing the clinic.
Undesired false alarms are reduced or precluded in an embodiment wherein the analysis device is a learning expert system that interprets the measured values disease-specifically and/or problem-specifically on the basis of rule systems or based on probabilities, as a result of which the alarm signal is triggered.
In a version of the invention provides that the alarm generator generates different alarm signals dependent on the urgency of a reaction to an event, these alarm signals being routed to reception devices of a treatment and/or emergency chain.